Social Sciences
Explore faculty and student work in economics, sociology, political science, anthropology, and other disciplines shaping our understanding of society.
Robert Coles Was Most at Home on the Playground
A colleague remembers the late Harvard professor and child psychiatrist, who died this month.
by Alex Harris
Jerome Groopman and Pamela Hartzband on beliefs and medical choices
In Your Medical Mind, Jerome Groopman and Pamela Hartzband write about beliefs and medical choices.
Sue Goldie, Daniel Lord Smail, George Whitesides featured in New York Times
Professors Goldie, Smail, and Whitesides all work on topics featured in one day’s New York Times
Michael Norton surveys Harvard alumni preferences on wealth distribution
Take a professor's poll on alumni opinions about the distribution of wealth in America.
The Veil’s Revival
Veils have seen a resurgence among young Muslim women worldwide. Is this a step backward, or a marker of progressive politics?
From Human Nature to Human Resources
By reading Darwin, a business school professor has found a unifying way to think about human motivation.
HBS professor Clayton Christensen questions the future of higher education
The HBS professor predicts that online education will disrupt old models.
Excerpt from Sophia Rosenfeld, "Common Sense: A Political History"
Historian Sophia Rosenfeld examines the origins of politicians' appeals to "common sense."
Public input revises a list of important “hard problems” in the social sciences
An online discussion and poll revise the list of “hard problems” in the social sciences drafted by scholars at a Harvard symposium last year.
Profile of anti-smoking guru Gregory N. Connolly
The former smoker turned anti-smoking guru directs Harvard School of Public Health's Center for Global Tobacco Control.
Rose McDermott links polygyny to poor health and social outcomes
Polygyny has mainly negative consequences for women, children, and unmarried young men—and is linked to violence among nations.